An assumed-stress hybrid 4-node shell element with drilling degrees of freedom

An assumed-stress hybrid/mixed 4-node quadrilateral shell element is introduced that alleviates most of the deficiencies associated with such elements. The formulation of the element is based on the assumed-stress hybrid/mixed method using the Hellinger-Reissner variational principle. The membrane part of the element has 12 degrees of freedom including rotational or ‘drilling’ degrees of freedom at the nodes. The bending part of the element also has 12 degrees of freedom. The bending part of the element uses the Reissner-Mindlin plate theory which takes into account the transverse shear contributions. The element formulation is derived from an 8-node isoparametric element by expressing the midside displacement degrees of freedom in terms of displacement and rotational degrees of freedom at corner nodes. The element passes the patch test, is nearly insensitive to mesh distortion, does not ‘lock’, possesses the desirable invariance properties, has no hidden spurious modes, and for the majority of test cases used in this paper produces more accurate results than the other elements employed herein for comparison.     

A finite element formulation for piezoelectric shell structures considering geometrical and material non‐linearities

In this paper, we present a non‐linear finite element formulation for piezoelectric shell structures. Based on a mixed multi‐field variational formulation, an electro‐mechanical coupled shell element is developed considering geometrically and materially non‐linear behavior of ferroelectric ceramics. The mixed formulation includes the independent fields of displacements, electric potential, strains, electric field, stresses, and dielectric displacements. Besides the mechanical degrees of freedom, the shell counts only one electrical degree of freedom. This is the difference in the electric potential in the thickness direction of the shell. Incorporating non‐linear kinematic assumptions, structures with large deformations and stability problems can be analyzed. According to a Reissner–Mindlin theory, the shell element accounts for constant transversal shear strains. The formulation incorporates a three‐dimensional transversal isotropic material law, thus the kinematic in the thickness direction of the shell is considered. The normal zero stress condition and the normal zero dielectric displacement condition of shells are enforced by the independent resultant stress and the resultant dielectric displacement fields. Accounting for material non‐linearities, the ferroelectric hysteresis phenomena are considered using the Preisach model. As a special aspect, the formulation includes temperature‐dependent effects and thus the change of the piezoelectric material parameters due to the temperature. This enables the element to describe temperature‐dependent hysteresis curves. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A New Locking Free Higher Order Finite Element Formulation for Composite Beams.

A refined 2-node, 7 DOF/node beam element formulation is presented in this paper. This formulation is based on higher order shear deformation theory with lateral contraction for axial-flexural-shear coupled deformation in asymmetrically stacked laminated composite beams. In addition to axial, transverse and rotational degrees of freedom, the formulation also incorporates the lateral contraction and its higher order counterparts as degrees of freedom. The element shape functions are derived by solving the static part of the governing equations. The element considers general ply stacking and the numerical results shows that the element exhibits super convergent property. The efficiency of the element in capturing both the static and dynamic inter-laminar stresses is demonstrated. The accuracy of the element to capture free vibration and wave propogation responses with small problem sizes is also demonstrated.     

4-Node combined shell element with semi-EAS-ANS strain interpolations in 6-parameter shell theories with drilling degrees of freedom

A 4-node C ⁰ shell element with drilling degrees of freedom is presented in this paper. The element is developed within the nonlinear 6-field shell theory. Kinematics of the shell is described by two independent fields: the vector field for translations and the proper orthogonal tensor field for rotations. Within the theoretical formulation no restriction is applied on magnitudes of displacements and rotations. To avoid locking phenomena the proposed element combines two interpolation schemes: the assumed natural strain (ANS) for transverse shear strains and the enhanced assumed strain (EAS). The latter interpolation is used with asymmetric (in-plane) membrane strains. The performance of the element is evaluated by example of benchmark problems with special emphasis on shell structures containing orthogonal intersections.     

A family of simple and robust finite elements for linear and geometrically nonlinear analysis of laminated composite plates

A family of simple, displacement-based and shear-flexible triangular and quadrilateral flat plate/shell elements for linear and geometrically nonlinear analysis of thin to moderately thick laminate composite plates are introduced and summarized in this paper.

The developed elements are based on the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and von-Karman’s large deflection theory, and total Lagrangian approach is employed to formulate the element for geometrically nonlinear analysis. The deflection and rotation functions of the element boundary are obtained from Timoshenko’s laminated composite beam functions, thus convergence can be ensured theoretically for very thin laminates and shear-locking problem is avoided naturally.

The flat triangular plate/shell element is of 3-node, 18-degree-of-freedom, and the plane displacement interpolation functions of the Allman’s triangular membrane element with drilling degrees of freedom are taken as the in-plane displacements of the element. The flat quadrilateral plate/shell element is of 4-node, 24-degree-of-freedom, and the linear displacement interpolation functions of a quadrilateral plane element with drilling degrees of freedom are taken as the in-plane displacements.

The developed elements are simple in formulation, free from shear-locking, and include conventional engineering degrees of freedom. Numerical examples demonstrate that the elements are convergent, not sensitive to mesh distortion, accurate and efficient for linear and geometric nonlinear analysis of thin to moderately thick laminates.     

An effective finite rotation formulation for geometrical non-linear shell structures

This paper presents a simple stress resultant 4-node shell element for geometrical non-linear analysis. In order to model smooth surfaces and/or stiffened structures, a simple and efficient technique for finite rotation is adopted. By means of suppressing the component of singular rotation effectivley, convenient use of six degrees of freedom is possible without deteriorating the robustness and the convergence rate of the classical 5-dof formulation. In the formulation of shell element, section eccentricity is also considered to model stiffened structures. Through numerical experiments the effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated. Received 16 November 2000     

A FLAT TRIANGULAR SHELL ELEMENT WITH LOOF NODES

In the formulation of flat shell elements it is difficult to achieve inter-element compatibility between membrane and transverse displacements for non-coplanar elements. Many elements lack proper nodal degrees of freedom to model intersections making the assembly of elements troublesome. A flat triangular shell element is established by a combination of a new plate bending element DKTL and the well-known linear membrane strain element LST, and for this element the above-mentioned deficiencies are avoided. The plate bending element DKTL is based on Discrete Kirchhoff Theory and Loof nodes. The nodal configuration of the element is similar to the SemiLoof element, and the formulation is an improvement of a previous formulation. The element is used for both linear statics, linear buckling and geometrical non-linear analysis, and numerical examples are presented to show the robustness, accuracy and quick convergence of the element.     

A stabilized one‐point integrated quadrilateral Reissner–Mindlin plate element

A new quadrilateral Reissner–Mindlin plate element with 12 element degrees of freedom is presented. For linear isotropic elasticity a Hellinger–Reissner functional with independent displacements, rotations and stress resultants is used. Within the mixed formulation the stress resultants are interpolated using five parameters for the bending moments and four parameters for the shear forces. The hybrid element stiffness matrix resulting from the stationary condition can be integrated analytically. This leads to a part obtained by one‐point integration and a stabilization matrix. The element possesses a correct rank, does not show shear locking and is applicable for the evaluation of displacements and stress resultants within the whole range of thin and thick plates. The bending patch test is fulfilled and the computed numerical examples show that the convergence behaviour is better than comparable quadrilateral assumed strain elements. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

带有沙漏控制的相对自由度壳元

针对一点积分的八节点相对自由度壳单元存在的沙漏现象，提出采用拟应变法解决该问题的方法，并对锁死问题进行研究。给出了带有沙漏控制的八节点相对自由度壳元内的坐标、位移插值公式，推导了拟应变的表达式，通过Hu-Washizu变分原理，建立了有限元求解方程。利用Wilson非协调位移模式，单元的计算精度得到了明显改善。算例表明：基于八节点相对自由度壳单元，本文给出的沙漏控制算法能够有效的解决线性静力问题，并且具有较高的计算精度。     

The Use of 9-Parameter Shell Theory for Development of Exact Geometry 12-Node Quadrilateral Piezoelectric Laminated Solid-Shell Elements

The present work focuses on the development of the exact geometry (EG) 12-node piezoelectric solid-shell element with three translational degrees of freedom per node. The term “EG” reflects the fact that coefficients of the first and second fundamental forms of the reference surface are taken exactly at each element node. The finite element formulation developed is based on the higher-order 9-parameter equivalent single-layer shell theory accounting for thickness stretching, which permits the use of 3D constitutive equations. In this theory, we introduce three sampling surfaces, namely, bottom, middle, and top, and choose nine displacements of these surfaces as basic shell unknowns. Such a way allows one to represent the EG piezoelectric solid-shell element formulation in a very compact form and to derive the strain-displacement equations, which describe exactly all rigid-body shell motions in any convected curvilinear coordinate system. The element matrices are evaluated through the use of 3D analytical integration by employing the extended ANS method. To avoid shear and membrane locking and have no spurious zero energy modes, the assumed displacement-independent strains and stress resultants fields are invoked.     

A four‐node,shear‐deformable shell element developed via explicit Kirchhoff constraints

An efficient, four‐node quadrilateral shell element is formulated using a linear, first‐order shear deformation theory. The bending part of the formulation is constructed from a cross‐diagonal assembly of four three‐node anisoparametric triangular plate elements, referred to as MIN3. Closed‐form constraint equations, which arise from the Kirchhoff constraints in the thin‐plate limit, are derived and used to eliminate the degrees‐of‐freedom associated with the ‘internal’ node of the cross‐diagonal assembly. The membrane displacement field employs an Allman‐type, drilling degrees‐of‐freedom formulation. The result is a displacement‐based, fully integrated, four‐node quadrilateral element, MIN4T, possessing six degrees‐of‐freedom at each node. Results for a set of validation plate problems demonstrate that the four‐node MIN4T has similar robustness and accuracy characteristics as the original cross‐diagonal assembly of MIN3 elements involving five nodes. The element performs well in both moderately thick and thin regimes, and it is free of shear locking. Shell validation results demonstrate superior performance of MIN4T over MIN3, possibly as a result of its higher‐order interpolation of the membrane displacements. It is also noted that the bending formulation of MIN4T is kinematically compatible with the existing anisoparametric elements of the same order of approximation, which include a two‐node Timoshenko beam element and a three‐node plate element, MIN3. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A novel versatile multilayer hybrid stress solid-shell element

This paper presents a versatile multilayer locking free hybrid stress solid-shell element that can be readily employed for a wide range of geometrically linear elastic structural analyses, i.e. from shell-like isotropic structures to multilayer anisotropic composites. This solid-shell element has eight nodes with only displacement degrees of freedom and a few internal parameters that provide the locking free behavior and accurate interlaminar stress resolution through the element thickness. These elements can be stacked on top of each other to model multilayer structures, fulfilling the interlaminar stress continuity at the interlayer surfaces and zero traction conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of composite laminates. The element formulation is based on the modified form of the well-known Fraeijs de Veubeke–Hu–Washizu (FHW) multifield variational principle with enhanced assumed strains (EAS formulation) and assumed natural strains (ANS formulation) to alleviate the different types of locking phenomena in solid-shell elements. The distinct feature of the present formulation is its ability to accurately calculate the interlaminar stress field in multilayer structures, which is achieved by incorporating an assumed stress field in a standard EAS formulation based on the FHW principle. To assess the present formulation’s accuracy, a variety of popular numerical benchmark examples related to element patch tests, convergence, mesh distortion, shell and laminated composite analyses are investigated and the results are compared with those available in the literature. This assessment reveals that the proposed solid-shell formulation provides very accurate results for a wide range of structural analyses.     

Hybrid‐mixed curved beam elements with increased degrees of freedom for static and vibration analyses

In this paper, hybrid‐mixed elements for static and vibration analyses of curved beams are presented. The proposed elements based on the Hellinger–Reissner variational principle employ the consistent stress parameters corresponding to the displacement fields with additional internal nodeless degrees of freedom in order to enhance the numerical performance. Elimination of the stress parameters by the stationary condition and condensation of internal nodeless degrees of freedom by Guyan reduction are carried out in the element formulation. This study shows how much the order of internal nodeless displacement functions and the type of mass matrix affect the numerical performance of hybrid‐mixed curved beam elements in static and dynamic analyses. Various numerical examples confirm that the proposed elements with increased internal nodeless degrees of freedom generate superior accuracy in the prediction of bending behaviours and high vibration modes. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

用于壳体自由振动分析的广义协调元

本文采用基于解析试函数的广义协调四边形膜单元和中厚板单元构造了平板型4节点壳体单元,并将其用于壳体振动分析。该壳体单元具有列式简单,易于编程的优点,通过数值算例表明,该单元计算精度高,非常适合工程计算     

4‐node unsymmetric quadrilateral membrane element with drilling DOFs insensitive to severe mesh‐distortion

The unsymmetric finite element method is a promising technique to produce distortion‐immune finite elements. In this work, a simple but robust 4‐node 12‐DOF unsymmetric quadrilateral membrane element is formulated. The test function of this new element is determined by a concise isoparametric‐based displacement field that is enriched by the Allman‐type drilling degrees of freedom. Meanwhile, a rational stress field, instead of the displacement one in the original unsymmetric formulation, is directly adopted to be the element's trial function. This stress field is obtained based on the analytical solutions of the plane stress/strain problem and the quasi‐conforming technique. Thus, it can a priori satisfy related governing equations. Numerical tests show that the presented new unsymmetric element, named as US‐Q4θ, exhibits excellent capabilities in predicting results of both displacement and stress, in most cases, superior to other existing 4‐node element models. In particular, it can still work very well in severely distorted meshes even when the element shape deteriorates into concave quadrangle or degenerated triangle.     

Static,free vibration and thermal analysis of composite plates and shells using a flat triangular shell element

Finite element static, free vibration and thermal analysis of thin laminated plates and shells using a three noded triangular flat shell element is presented. The flat shell element is a combination of the Discrete Kirchhoff Theory (DKT) plate bending element and a membrane element derived from the Linear Strain Triangular (LST) element with a total of 18 degrees of freedom (3 translations and 3 rotations per node). Explicit formulations are used for the membrane, bending and membrane-bending coupling stiffness matrices and the thermal load vector. Due to a strong analogy between the induced strain caused by the thermal field and the strain induced in a structure due to an electric field the present formulation is readily applicable for the analysis of structures excited by surface bonded or embedded piezoelectric actuators. The results are presented for (i) static analysis of (a) simply supported square plates under doubly sinusoidal load and uniformly distributed load (b) simply supported spherical shells under a uniformly distributed load, (ii) free vibration analysis of (a) square cantilever plates, (b) skew cantilever plates and (c) simply supported spherical shells; (iii) Thermal deformation analysis of (a) simply supported square plates, (b) simply supported-clamped square plate and (c) simply supported spherical shells. A numerical example is also presented demonstrating the application of the present formulation to analyse a symmetrically laminated graphite/epoxy laminate excited by a layer of piezoelectric polyvinylidene flouride (PVDF). The results presented are in good agreement with those available in the literature.The work was partly sponsored by a grant (DAAHO4-95-1-0175) from the army research office with Dr. Gary Anderson as the grant monitor.     

Buckling analysis of rotationally periodic structures using shell element with relative degrees of freedom

By considering the characteristics of deformation of rotationally periodic structures subjected to rotationally periodic loads, the periodic structure is divided into several identical substructures in this paper. If the structure is really periodic but not axisymmetric, the number of the substructures can be defined accordingly. If the structure is axisymmetric (special in the case of the periodic), the structure can be divided into any number of substructures. It means, in this case, the number of substructures is independent of the number of buckling waves. The degrees of freedom (DOFs) of joint nodes between the neighbouring substructures are classified as master and slave ones. The stress and strain conditions of the whole structure are obtained by solving the elastic static equations for only one substructure by introducing the displacement constraints between master and slave DOFs. The complex constraint method is used to get the bifurcation buckling load and mode for the whole rotationally periodic structure by solving the eigenvalue problem for only one substructure without introducing any additional approximation. Finite element (FE) formulation of shell element of relative degrees of freedom (SERDF) in the buckling analysis is then derived. Different measures of tackling internal degrees of freedom for different kinds of buckling problems and different stages of numerical analysis are presented. Some numerical examples are given to illustrate the high efficiency and validity of this method. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A formulation for the 4-node quadrilateral element

A formulation for the plane 4-node quadrilateral finite element is developed based on the principle of virtual displacements for a deformable body. Incompatible modes are added to the standard displacement field. Then expressions for gradient operators are obtained from an expansion of the basis functions into a second-order Taylor series in the physical co-ordinates. The internal degrees of freedom of the incompatible modes are eliminated on the element level. A modified change of variables is used to integrate the element matrices. For a linear elastic material, the element stiffness matrix can be separated into two parts. These are equivalent to a stiffness matrix obtained from underintegration and a stabilization matrix. The formulation includes the cases of plane stress and plane strain as well as the analysis of incompressible materials. Further, the approach is suitable for non-linear analysis. There, an application is given for the calculation of inelastic problems in physically non-linear elasticity. The element is efficient to implement and it is frame invariant. Locking effects and zero-energy modes are avoided as well as singularities of the stiffness matrix due to geometric distortion. A high accuracy is obtained for numerical solutions in displacements and stresses.     

Local Instability and Free Vibration of Supported Plates Using the Basic Plate Triangle

This paper extends the numerical method, originally developed by Onate and his colleagues for the static analysis of plates, to enable modal (vibration) and bifurcative (buckling) analyses of plates to be undertaken. The procedure uses a rotation-free triangular element, and is based on combining the finite element method and the finite volume method so as to produce a triangular element with only three displacement degrees of freedom. Elastic stiffness, stability (geometric stiffness) and mass matrices are developed using the mixed formulation, and these are implemented in routine computer coding in order to demonstrate the validity and efficacy of the solution technique when compared with results reported by independent investigators. Natural frequencies and local buckling coefficients are given for plates with interior line supports, and these are used to illustrate the prowess of the numerical technique for the analysis of a wide class of plate buckling and vibration problems, whose analysis by non-discretisation techniques has found favour recently in deference to general finite element modelling which tends to introduce some inaccuracies. The element developed in this paper, however, is both accurate and has the attractive meshing characteristics of the finite element method for analysing more arbitrary geometric structural topologies.